Sunday, January 17, 2010

The whole staff, minus new father Mike Elston, assembled for a press conference and interview session this past Friday. Und.com has the collection of transcripts and videos which are worth your time. It's a nice way to put some faces and voices with names.

Since the coaching staff names were doled out over time, I figure it might be handy to put all the names, faces, and interesting bio bits in one spot. For each coach I'll list the standard name, rank and serial number and then will throw in how many years they have spent coaching the position they will coach for ND, which BCS conference schools they have previously worked at (including work as a GA), if they have served as a recruiting coordinator in the past, and any somewhat interesting bit of trivia about them.

Name: Mike ElstonPosition: Defensive Line & Special Teams CoordinatorYears Coaching this position: 6BCS teams: Michigan (2), Cincinnati (3)Recruiting coordinator experience: YesTrivia bit: 3 for 3 in having UC player win Big East Special Teams Player of the Year

So, what do you think? It's definitely a younger staff than the one under Charlie. And if you watch the interviews they do seem to be more personable across the board. Most of them come from similar midwest oriented backgrounds, so at least from a recruiting perspective, ND might get a higher percentage of midwest players in the next few classes. (It took Polian a few classes until he started to reel in California players with regularity) As for their coaching ability, well, we'll all have to wait and see how the team looks next fall.